Coming off a 34-14 loss to the Montana Grizzlies, the Vandals hope to get back to the winning column against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Oct. 30 at the Kibbie Dome. Despite their last two straight losses where Montana and EWU combined to put over 100 points on the Vandals, there is reason to be hopeful coming into this game.
The first is that Northern Arizona is not the level of competition that EWU or Montana was. The Grizzlies and the Eagles are both ranked in the top 25 in the FCS, whereas Northern Arizona has faced the same problems that Idaho has: inconsistency.
Despite putting up a win against Arizona, a Power Five FBS team and putting 59 points on Southern Utah, they also got shut out against Sacramento State and lost to Northern Colorado earlier in the season. This is a team that can either be world beaters or can be caught still on the bus.
In addition to facing a team worse than the level of competition they have had the last few weeks; the Vandals also look to get a familiar face back in the lineup. Graduate student quarterback Mike Beaudry was practicing with the first-string offense on Tuesday and Wednesday after missing the EWU and Montana game with an injury. Beaudry on Tuesday took the majority of the first-string reps and looked to be comfortable, completing most of his passes.
Having Beaudry back in the lineup should help an offense that has struggled to sustain drives in the last couple of weeks.
In addition to having Beaudry back in the lineup, the Vandals secondary is now close to being at full strength. After missing two games with injuries, Hoover came back in the Montana game and now has another week practicing healthy.
“It was really good to have Hoover back (for the Montana game),” said coach Paul Petrino. “I think he played hard and did some good things. We look forward to getting after it tonight and having a really good practice and have (the secondary) keep improving each day this week.”
The secondary seemed to adopt this mentality, with freshman cornerback Arnell Walker getting two interceptions against the scout team offense in Tuesday’s practice.
Regarding injuries, Northern Arizona has been bit with the injury bug. This may work to the advantage of the Vandals who are going into Saturday with a healthier team than they’ve had in recent weeks. Last Saturday, the Lumberjacks started true freshman on defense, and Sacramento State exploited that, tallying 440 passing yards against the banged-up defense of Northern Arizona.
Northern Arizona will continue to start multiple true freshmen on defense against Idaho, and with Beuadry back, that’s something the Vandals might exploit.
This is a must-win game for the Vandals if they wish to finish the season with a winning record, and it can’t come at a better time for this team.
Including the game against the Lumberjacks, the Vandals have four games left on the schedule. Aside from an away game on Nov. 13 against the Montana State Bobcats, who currently sit atop Big Sky standings, the rest of Idaho’s opponents have a losing record. Despite evidence in the past few weeks speaking to the contrary, a healthy Vandals team has hope to close out the season. But it’ll have to start on Saturday against Northern Arizona.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. streamed on ESPN+ and SWX.
Live coverage can be found on Twitter @VandalNation
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]